Anyone returning bad ones?

[jimthing]

UK order of a 4-pack. Tried setting-up and testing today, but the first two failed to work AT ALL after my initial first set-up and test.

All the settings were correct. Just completely failed. Utterly weird.

Returning my 4-pack, as if 2 of them are bad, then not worth bothering with the other two... annoying as will now have to go to a store to get some, as sold out online until mid-June.

 

[MK11]

That’s a bummer. I bought the 4 pack, turns out I only need two but they seem to work well

 

[ukms]

UK order of a 4-pack. Tried setting-up and testing today, but the first two failed to work AT ALL after my initial first set-up and test.

All the settings were correct. Just completely failed. Utterly weird.

Returning my 4-pack, as if 2 of them are bad, then not worth bothering with the other two... annoying as will now have to go to a store to get some, as sold out online until mid-June.

Out of interest what has completely failed after you’ve set them up ?

 

[HK-Dragon]

Got a 4-pack yesterday and all works fine out of the box. Will see how they work on longterm 🤔🤔

 

[chabig]

Out of interest what has completely failed after you’ve set them up ?

I have the same question. The OP just claimed that they completely and utterly failed after setup. Obviously they worked during set up, so he should explain how he knows they failed.

 

[Apple_Robert]

This thread seems odd seeing how the OP told me the following the other day.

AirTag came apart in my pocket

I'm serious. Any squashing pressure on the tag, and the tiny board inside can fail. Hence returned for new ones.

forums.macrumors.com

 

[jimthing]

To clarify. After initial setup working, and the first locate tests, the two that failed refused to emit any noise when told to do so in Find My app, nor the find feature work when it was sat right next to iPhone 12 Pro Max, nor would they identify themselves to both my partner or a friend's 12 series iPhones either.

Opening/closing the back, taking the battery out/in several times: nada.
Left them a couple of hours, exactly the same: DEAD as a dodo. No location, no noise on even putting the battery in, after manually removing from Find My (the app does it regardless of whether they're working or not) they couldn't be re-setup on any of our iPhones.
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Another friend got his first one out, to find one of the three tiny pins inside was not popping out to make contact with the battery very well, so kept not working properly. As a regular tech fixer, he carefully put it in a holding vice and used a proper tool to try and prise the pin out, but after numerous careful attempts, the vice fell over and squashed the Airtag a bit, and it was permanently screwed, as per mine above. Hence he complained to Apple about the pin issue on phone, returned the whole pack, and will also have to pick some up again in store.

So hope you get well manufactured ones, and get a decent hard case if you want them to last!

 

[ukms]

To clarify. After initial setup working, and the first locate tests, the two that failed refused to emit any noise when told to do so in Find My app, nor the find feature work when it was sat right next to iPhone 12 Pro Max, nor would they identify themselves to both my partner or a friend's 12 series iPhones either.

Opening/closing the back, taking the battery out/in several times: nada.
Left them a couple of hours, exactly the same: DEAD as a dodo. No location, no noise on even putting the battery in, after manually removing from Find My (the app does it regardless of whether they're working or not) they couldn't be re-setup on any of our iPhones.
-----
Another friend got his first one out, to find one of the three tiny pins inside was not popping out to make contact with the battery very well, so kept not working properly. As a regular tech fixer, he carefully put it in a holding vice and used a proper tool to try and prise the pin out, but after numerous careful attempts, the vice fell over and squashed the Airtag a bit, and it was permanently screwed, as per mine above. Hence he complained to Apple about the pin issue on phone, returned the whole pack, and will also have to pick some up again in store.

So hope you get well manufactured ones, and get a decent hard case if you want them to last!

Did you try a fresh battery ?

 

[cambookpro]

UK order of a 4-pack. Tried setting-up and testing today, but the first two failed to work AT ALL after my initial first set-up and test.

All the settings were correct. Just completely failed. Utterly weird.

Returning my 4-pack, as if 2 of them are bad, then not worth bothering with the other two... annoying as will now have to go to a store to get some, as sold out online until mid-June.

FWIW if you don't fancy going to a physical shop to re-buy them, John Lewis have them in-stock online both individually and in a 4-pack (plus a 2 year guarantee included).

 

[chabig]

To clarify. After initial setup working, and the first locate tests, the two that failed refused to emit any noise when told to do so in Find My app, nor the find feature work when it was sat right next to iPhone 12 Pro Max, nor would they identify themselves to both my partner or a friend's 12 series iPhones either.

I wonder if your expectations might be too high and/or incorrect. These work through the Find My network. They might make noise immediately, but I also would not be surprised if it took a few minutes for them to react. As for finding nearby, I think patience is the right response here too. And for the identify feature, do you realize that only works if you set the AirTag as lost?

 

[jimthing]

I wonder if your expectations might be too high and/or incorrect. These work through the Find My network. They might make noise immediately, but I also would not be surprised if it took a few minutes for them to react. As for finding nearby, I think patience is the right response here too. And for the identify feature, do you realize that only works if you set the AirTag as lost?

Obviously. All the functions were tested as they should be, batteries swapped, etc.

As reiterated above, they wouldn't work at all trying to do anything with them, after waiting or not. Duds, simple as.
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I'm actually going to wait a while and see how other user's functionality does/doesn't work, before considering getting new ones. The main problem is, that I never lose anything, and so the main reason for usage (as for many other users) is for stolen items, and I don't think these are going to cut it at such a job, given their limitations.

Hence why Apple execs have more or less intimated not to use for this, as users are likely to be disappointed when the worst happens but their Airtags don't help.

 

[chabig]

Interesting. Thanks for explaining. I have four. I just tried to get the NFC info from two of them using two iPhone 11s. Nothing (and one was put into lost mode). I'm going to guess this is something that will be fixed with software.

I do think the AirTag must be in lost mode to be NFC scanned.

 

[cambookpro]

Interesting. Thanks for explaining. I have four. I just tried to get the NFC info from two of them using two iPhone 11s. Nothing (and one was put into lost mode). I'm going to guess this is something that will be fixed with software.

I do think the AirTag must be in lost mode to be NFC scanned.

They don't have to be in lost mode, but they are tricky to scan. Have to tap them on the centre of the top edge of the iPhone. Try a few times - it should eventually pop up with a notification to take you to a website. The iPhone NFC 'sweet spot' seems to be very small.

 

[chabig]

They don't have to be in lost mode, but they are tricky to scan. Have to tap them on the centre of the top edge of the iPhone. Try a few times - it should eventually pop up with a notification to take you to a website. The iPhone NFC 'sweet spot' seems to be very small.

Thanks. I tapped it at the top center and it scanned immediately. I thought it would be closer to the where the Qi charging center is.

 

[jamdex]

Batteries ok?